SK Gaming Crowned Team Of The Year - A Look Back At Their Success

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SK Gaming recently took a win from the hands of FaZe in a best of five event at the ESL Pro League Season 6 finals. It’s the 7th major tournament win that SK Gaming has taken this year, out of a combined eight events that they’ve taken part in.

It’s fair to say that SK Gaming is the team of the year – they’re without a doubt the best team in the world right now. Everybody is saying it, even their rivals, FaZe.

SK Gaming’s Big Wins In 2017

Let’s take a look back at the wins that SK Gaming took in 2017. The wins they’ve received has clearly showcased that not only can they consistently beat teams like FaZe and G2, but they can consistently go up against any competition and pull out a win.

Here’s a look back at SK’s big events this year:

ESL Pro League Season 6 – Finals – 3-1 Win Against FaZe

BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2017 – 2-1 Win Against Astralis

EPICENTER 2017 – 3-2 Win Against Virtus Pro

ESL One: Cologne 2017 – 3-0 Win Against Cloud9

Esports Championship Series Season 3 – Finals – 2-1 Win Against FaZe

DreamHack Summer 2017 – 2-1 Win Against Fnatic

Intel Extreme Masters XII – Sydney – 3-1 Win Against FaZe

Intel Extreme Masters XII – Oakland – Lost In The Semi Finals to NIP

Out of these seven events, SK Gaming proved their worth by pulling together wins against a wide range of top tier teams. SK Gaming did lose out to NIP in IEM Oakland. It was a shock event that saw NIP push themselves to win the entire event.

Whilst this was one loss against SK, the Brazilian team has since beaten NIP in best of 1 matches, so it seems not even the Ninjas can stop the Brazilian powerhouse right now.

What To Expect From SK Gaming In 2018?

If history is anything to go by, the top team never stays at the top for long.

For a team to maintain their spot, the team has to continuously try to defend their spot as other teams learn their weaknesses and push themselves harder. It’s very difficult to do, and many would say that it’s inevitable that a team will fall from the top spot eventually.

SK Gaming is already going to start 2018 off with a shaky start. Boltz will be replaced temporarily with Felps because of their previous team composition earlier in 2017.

Felps has of course played with SK before. In fact, Felps was there for five of the big wins that SK had during 2017. Having Felps won’t be much of a downgrade, but the change may disrupt the team composition they currently have.

As soon as the major is over, SK Gaming will be able to move on with their current lineup with Boltz.

We think that SK Gaming has the potential to push past and be the top team in 2018, but if they were to lose any event, it would definitely be the ELEAGUE Boston Major. Could that small disruption be enough to knock SK off of the top spot?

What About SK’s Competitors?

Whilst we don’t think SK’s performance will drop in 2018, the performance of other teams could improve.FaZe clan is still a very good team right now and with more practice together, they could easily take SK’s crown.

The main issue with FaZe is that whilst the team is made with a roster of superstar players, they need more time together to work on their team cohesion.

Another potential contender is NaVi – their current lineup needs more time together, but if they were to practice their map pool, they’d have a strong chance to climb up the rankings. Unlike other teams, NaVi recently confirmed that their roster will stay the same for another 2 years.

Finally, the remainder of top tier EU teams all have a chance to be at the top. They’ve all done it in the past, and they all have the potential to do it again.